I've been thinking about the heavy spider motifs in Homecoming and wondering why they're there.

In the original Silent Hill, Alessa loves butterflies, but that's not the only reason a butterfly-like monster is a boss. Butterflies are well-known rebirth symbols, so aside from how much Alessa may have liked them, they made for a good metaphor. The final boss, though it doesn't look like one, fulfills the butterfly metaphor by being a nmetamorphasis from caterpillar (Alessa) to pupa (Incubator) to butterfly (Incubus).

Spiders are a bigass motif in Homecoming, but I could never figure out why besides Joshua liking them personally, which would be a rather weak reason to load the game with it; all of the bosses are spider-like in some way, the final boss especially so, and the game mechanic of getting back on the right path is a trail of spiders. Then I got it: spiders are one of the bugs known for killing (and usually eating) their children, which would reflect the filicidal ritual sacrifice that caused the events of the game.

In particular, the spider myth of Arachne, some versions of which end in her hanging herself, may relate back to the Holloway murder method and Asphyxia, but that's reaching.

I came in peace, Emmy, and you drew your sword! I really do think this is a likely theory; what I think solidifies it is the Needler's appearance. It's a spider-like creature with a head on its genitals, a pretty obvious metaphor for childbirth.

Shh, act like I was never here the first time. I won't be on much, I just experienced a rush of Silent Hill nostalgia.

I'm just not satisfied with Homecoming. I never enjoyed it to the extent that I enjoyed the other games. Also this is the first game that the American creators got a chance to ever do anything with Silent Hill so I'm guessing that their first thought was to make it as scary as possible instead of figuring out something that could truly be haunting or rather a better storyline.

Hahah well I'm just glad to see a familiar name around here. :) Hope you stick around!

The only enemies featuring an overt spider motif are the Needler and Amnion. I do think Emmy is correct in saying that the spiders are in the game because a lot of people are (rightfully) afraid of the arachnid bastards.
But insofar as deeper symbolism?
A lot of the enemies in Downpour do seem to have an underlying meaning behind their design (in this way, I think Homecoming is superior to Downpour), however of these the spider is by no means especially prevalent nor powerful. If anything, it simply is that Josh was (for whatever fucked up reason) fond of them.

Canieattacos wrote:I'm just not satisfied with Homecoming. I never enjoyed it to the extent that I enjoyed the other games. Also this is the first game that the American creators got a chance to ever do anything with Silent Hill so I'm guessing that their first thought was to make it as scary as possible instead of figuring out something that could truly be haunting or rather a better storyline.

Hahah well I'm just glad to see a familiar name around here. :) Hope you stick around!

To be fair, some of the ideas zooming around Homecoming's early development were wildly bad, and we should be glad Hulett stepped in and cut out a lot of that nonsense.

Well, no matter, I'll happily clutch my theory to my chest.

The only enemies featuring an overt spider motif are the Needler and Amnion. I do think Emmy is correct in saying that the spiders are in the game because a lot of people are (rightfully) afraid of the arachnid bastards. But insofar as deeper symbolism? A lot of the enemies in Downpour* do seem to have an underlying meaning behind their design (in this way, I think Homecoming is superior to Downpour), however of these the spider is by no means especially prevalent nor powerful. If anything, it simply is that Josh was (for whatever fucked up reason) fond of them.

Well, that's the thing about it being overt. It's true that Amnion and the Needler are the only ones that fulfill that. Homecoming may have hit us in the face with SH2 parallels and violence, but it did manage its share of subtlety. Scarlet and Sepulcher are good examples of spider-like movements and mannerisms without jamming it up our noses.

I don't really see Sepulcher or Scarlet having spider like movements. Scarlet maybe, but definitely not Sepulcher. The thing is, Homecoming lacks a lot of subtlety that the earlier games had. That's not to say it isn't there, just that in general I do think it is a lot more clear than in past installments.

Well I guess it actually explained the whole plot, it looks like Josh is the one who cursed the town, thats why there is a lot of spider elements going on, maybe by the power of silent hill he saw the incidents not yet to come, so he brought back his brother, because deep down he was his friend after all and he needs to stop the cult activities, the rest is lead to interpretation, I think Alex never leave the hospital but by the power of Josh, he returned to the town as a soldier, this could be a hint, that he is actually an astral projection of himself, sort of Mary/Maria dilemma, ironic since Mary has the same lastname of Alex, that will explain his cool kick azz movements, because he is a toy soldier( an action figure of himself) fighting a giant spider like the picture in the playground.